Chapter Twenty-Seven

The time was squeezing them, the clock unyielding with their need to get the resort started, homes built, and instead of doing all that, they were looking for a serial killer.

The man was eluding cameras. Tango had put them up all over the place, and they'd yet to catch a glimpse of him. No one had seen him, and search parties were going out all day and night.

The four-wheeler he'd been using hadn't been found either. Dallas and Ruben were hiding their anger and fear well, but Marius felt it from them.

As much as the time in the mud with them was great sexually, it was more of a way to get their minds off things for a bit. Marius wanted one night when he could keep their minds off it, and then he'd leave them for a time so he could search for himself.

Dallas wouldn't like that, of course. Dallas wanted his men protected. There was a big space between them that one day would have to disappear. Dallas McIntyre would have to finally open his eyes to the man he professed his love for.

That left a rock in the pit of his guts at the thought. Ruben and Dallas thought it was all about what he saw in movies. Not only was it not as simple as those films, but it was also much more brutal.

Marius looked through the clothes he'd brought. Of course, he had only one good suit with him. He was heading to the woods, after all, so he'd left most of his good suits back in Ohio.

But the one he did bring looked good on him. He set it on the hook on the bathroom door to dress in after his shower, then got into the bag he'd taken from Dante with the other suits and laid them on the bed, and then finished making his romantic night.

He'd done the cowboy thing, rough and rugged, eating a burrito on the go and fucking behind fences. What Marius wanted to do was to bring a bit of himself into their threesome. The suave and sophisticated parts of him that were there by sure chance of DNA.

Thinking on his grandmother, musing about her youth and being courted by Marius's grandfather…he'd listened to those stories while sitting with her, a photo album shared between them on their laps. As he added the parsley to the sauce that simmered on the stove, stirring with the one wooden spoon that had been in the utensil crock, he started to take notes mentally of all the things they'd need to run a kitchen. Especially for wiseguys. "Gotta get more of those," he said to himself, feeling the bamboo spoon in his hand.

Yes, his grandmother and mother told stories of how they were wooed, given flowers, jewelry, danced around the living rooms of their homes. They each had tall stacks of love letters that came from their men. That tradition had died in the last twenty years, he thought. Writing a love letter. Now, he wrote sexts and sent pictures to his men.

Not to mention he hadn't written a letter to anyone since he was eight and wrote Santa.

As the ragu simmered, he added salt to the water and set it to start heating before washing his hands, listening to the pipes whine and bang. "Gotta get that fixed. Sounds like ghosts trying to bang down the damn walls."

He headed up to shower and change into his good shirt, suit and leather loafers. No underwear to disturb the suit's creases and…well, he didn't want more to have to take off.

Standing in front of the mirror, tying his dark blue silk tie that perfectly matched the pocket square, he smiled.

The way the men looked on a horse was hot as hell. Those pictures went through his mind over and over again. That, he knew, made him crazy, but the pictures in his mind that had yet to happen were the two of them dressed to the nines and sipping champagne.

Oh, he knew neither of them knew much about that kind of life. He wouldn't have either, if not for his family's connections. There was no need to live in a life you'd never known, but to kiss and tease it now and then expanded a horizon that you didn't know could be.

In the bedroom for the finishing touches of what would be their dessert, he checked over everything once more.

The lights were dimmed after he got the text from Ruben that they were on their way. He'd lit the few candles he could find and waited on the porch, freezing without even his leather jacket.

As soon as the headlights shone in the distance, his stomach did a flip, and he had giddiness flooding through him.

All the terrible things he'd done flashed in his mind, making him wonder if he deserved the two men who had made him fall in love with them. Still, he'd kept to their codes of honor as much as he could and tried to be fair when handling trouble from outsiders.

When the truck pulled in, he saw the two getting out of the cab as he felt his smile broaden. "Well, there are my two hard-working cowboys."

"What's this? Did we lose the lights again?" Ruben asked as he ran up the porch stairs.

"No, it's a surprise." He took the kiss from Ruben and told him, "Get upstairs and get in the shower. Your clothes are laid out on the bed. I just hope they fit."

"Clothes? Yeah!"

As he ran into the house, Dallas was there, looking in his eyes. "Surprise, huh?"

"Yeah, cowboy. Got a problem with that?"

"Not a one."

He was kissed passionately, then he told Dallas the same. "Go up and jump in the shower with Ruben. You have a suit on the bed. We're dressing for dinner tonight."

"Fancy. Well, I'll go, but you know being in the shower with that boy…"

"Don't take all night. I'm putting the pasta on now, so you have fifteen minutes, max."

"To get all purty? Well, baby, I'll have time to spare."

Marius laughed, slapped Dallas on the ass as he commanded, "Get!"

"Yessiree," he teased.

Marius was happy to get back inside where the warmth soothed his shivering. He got to the kitchen and placed the fettucine into the boiling water and threw the garlic bread into the oven. After the pasta was cooked and mixed into the marinara, he took everything to the island, reminding himself to tell Dante they needed a table and chairs.

He set his phone to play smooth jazz on low. As soon as he placed the bread in a basket and set it on the counter, the two coming through the kitchen door moved the flames of the candles, signaling they'd arrived.

Marius looked up to see them, both standing in the light of the candles, their faces both smiling almost shyly.

The suits didn't fit them perfectly, and he noticed Ruben's cuffs were folded. Blaine was much taller than Ruben, so Marius figured his suit would be long, but it didn't take from how absolutely beautiful they were.

Dallas's sometimes crazy hair was combed back from his face, his beard trimmed nicely, and the whiff of cologne told Marius they'd both indulged in his aftershave.

Ruben, he was like some movie star walking a runway. He came in and twirled, smiling before he moved to Marius. "I feel like a princess. Well, you know."

"Maybe a prince?"

"Yeah. Right," he said with a laugh.

Marius took Ruben's face in his hands and kissed him tenderly. "You're our prince."

A long sigh told Marius the line worked as he'd hoped. "Damn. You're intense."

Dallas pushed him out of the way and grabbed Marius, kissing him much harder. "This smells good, you smell good and fuck, you look good."

"Right back atcha, cowboy."

He showed them where to sit, placing him in the center of them, and he poured beer for the two of them. "I didn't have time to get wine, so forgive me."

"Beer's good," Dallas assured.

It was good, because they only had plastic cups. As they clinked them with dull thuds, Ruben grabbed a piece of garlic bread from the basket. "This smells heavenly."

"It better taste that way too, or Nonna will come beat my ass with a rolling pin."

"Mean one, your grandma?"

"No. She was the sweetest woman alive, but when it came to food? I once saw one of Nonna's daughters-in-law put spice into Nonna's sauce that Nonna didn't sanction. Wow, did she get mad? Never heard that language from a tiny Catholic woman before."

They both laughed with him, then their noises became oohs and aahs from the food. He sat a little straighter as he looked from side to side to see his men eating, smiling, letting the kidnappings and murders fall off their shoulders for a bit.

Food and sex, the two things that he knew would satisfy a man. Oh, there were others, of course, but those were the top two. He'd watched his own father come down in the foulest mood, but his mother was there with her pasta, a glass of wine and her best dark lipstick. The man didn't have a chance and was smiling and laughing before he'd finished his appetizer.

Manipulation, some would call it, but his mother had been a genius at getting through to his father. The man's temper, his moods, they all fell away with a few words from her. He was nothing compared to his mother and grandmothers, but he knew instinctively through them what his men needed when they were stressed. Sex and food.

They ate like they were starving, each getting a second helping. They drank only that first beer they shared, and then stuck to water. Marius was glad, because he had ideas that included a little bondage and a lot of fucking.

Once their plates were cleaned, he placed them in the dishwasher and told the two to head upstairs. He watched them walking off, flirting, laughing, and his heart jumped around his chest like a grasshopper.

He finished the kitchen cleanup before heading upstairs to find them both on the mattress on the floor, lounging as they giggled together. "Beautiful sight," he whispered into the dark room. There was only one candle lit, so he proceeded to have Ruben go fetch a couple more.

"We're alone. What will you do to me?" Dallas grunted.

"I've got some plans. If you'll allow me, Dallas, I'd like to tie that boy up with silk scarves and have my way with him."

"Sure thing. What about me?"

"I'd like to do the same to you," he said as his knees dropped to the mattress and he began to crawl over it to get to Dallas. "Make you…mine. All mine tonight."

"I like the sound o' that, but…you know I don't like pain and I'm not one for bottoming."

"I know," he whispered, then kissed him deeply. Tilting his head, he felt a hand on his cheek as he and Dallas kissed. Tongue, teeth, lips, breath, the love he felt for the man couldn't be expressed except by using his body. The kiss was a whisper of that love, and soon he hoped to scream it.

He had no intention of fucking Dallas or hurting him in any way. Their roughhousing sex was amazing, but there were other ways of dominance and submission.

The light from the candles in Ruben's hands danced on the walls as he reentered the room. Marius moved beside Dallas on the bed to watch him. "Thank you, Ruben. Now, do a little show for us and get that suit off. Be careful of it, though. It's not mine."

"Blaine's? He's the only one that skinny and that tall that would have this kind of suit around here."

"Good guess. It is his."

Ruben took out his phone and set some seductive music on, which Marius had planned to do. Dallas was a terrible distraction for him. They watched together as Ruben turned to face them and let the dark jacket slip off his shoulders and fall gently to the floor as he started on his tie.

"Damn, he's sexy," Dallas whispered as they watched and Ruben tossed the tie at them.

He had plans for the tie, but just held it while Ruben finished his sexy striptease, the pants moving gracefully off his legs, if indeed a pair of pants could be graceful. As he stood in only his little black underwear, both of them salivated over his lean, taut body.

After he turned around to face away from them, his little, perfect ass shook at the two of them until they were both laughing. "Enough, you little fucker," Marius called and Ruben slinked over to the mattress and started to crawl to them.

"We need a real bed."

"It's coming," Marius said as he pulled Ruben up to them, kissing him before tossing him easily to Dallas.

When Dallas had all Ruben's attention with the sexy kiss they shared, Marius got up and took off his jacket, throwing it over the lone chair in the room. "Dallas, get him on the bed for me, I'll be right back."

Hurrying to the bag he'd stashed in the walk-in closet, Marius saw how Dallas would keep Ruben busy. He was kissing him so well that all of Ruben's toes were curled.

That was some good kissing, he thought.

He took the two silk scarves he usually wore with his tuxedo and brought them to the bedroom, laughing as those toes were still curled. He tossed one of the scarves on Ruben's chest, finally getting their attention. "Dallas, you want to get the ankles and I'll get those wrists?"

"Love to," he grunted and moved, taking the scarf with him to the bottom of the mattress where he started to wrap the silk around Ruben's ankles.

Marius knelt on the bed and took the scarf in his hand, running it over Ruben's bare skin, watching the gooseflesh rise as he did so. "Tonight, no pain, no brattiness, just some things to make our little partner all soft and comfortable."

"Really? Not one little spanking?"

"Disappointed?"

Ruben shook his head as his eyes got glossy. "Not even a little."

He set his own wrists together and offered them to Marius as a tear slid from the corner of his eye. "I want to show you how much I love you."

"You're very sweet under all that blustering about being a tough guy."

"Wiseguy," he corrected with a little laugh.

"Right, sorry."

After taking his eyes from Ruben's handsome face, he turned to task and blinked as he started wrapping the silk around Ruben's wrists. "Damn, you have skinny wrists!"

"Yeah, always have. Thin hands too. I can get out of cuffs. Don't ask me how I know that," he said with a dark red creeping across his nose.

Dallas growled, "I ain't asking and you best not be telling."

Ruben blew him a kiss as Marius finished tying the scarf. "Not too tight?"

"No, it's fine."

"Good," he said as he moved Ruben's arms over his head and leaned down to kiss him.

Dallas moved and started on Ruben's cock, kissing on it through the underwear, nipping at it, and Marius took the top end, starting with Ruben's neck, kissing him, biting gently.

Moving over his chest, Marius took his time with each of Ruben's nipples while Ruben's underwear were pulled down his thighs so Dallas could start making love to Ruben's cock using his mouth. The soft way he was kissing then sucking him, the way his eyes closed while he worked, it was terribly sexy.

Ruben was enjoying himself, his little groans and whimpers telling a story. He was deep in the pool of sexual ecstasy, his eyes rolling back in his head while the two men moved their mouths to please him.

Sure, he was their submissive, but he was becoming so much more. Marius wanted to please him like he would serve a dom. That was the only thought in his head that night, pleasing his men. He would crawl over broken glass for either of them, and soon enough, he may have to.

Not then, however. Right then, on that bed, they weren't fighting for their place. There were no killers or snowstorms. They were simply three men in love and falling further.

That was all he'd wanted.

Neither of them were worrying over Felix in that moment. So many times in the past days that was what he saw. He read it in every line that was out of place, every far-off glance.

So, he continued to kiss over Ruben's flesh, to lick over those perky tiny nipples, and to listen to the sweet sounds coming from Ruben. "He's gonna come soon, Dimples," Dallas whispered. "Should we let him?"

"Please," Ruben groaned, "Please let me take care of you first."

Marius moved up so he could lay a hand over Ruben's mouth. "We'll do what we want to you, baby. Don't beg."

Ruben blinked slowly, and Marius felt him smile under his hand. Dallas stood and started to undress. "Ya gonna tie me up too?"

Ruben's eyes got huge and Marius took away his hand. Before he could express his shock, Ruben did. "Dallas? Are you sick? Drunk on that half a beer you drank?"

He chuckled darkly. "Not even a little, either one. Why not try a few things with the fellas you're…you know…with?"

Marius and Ruben both laughed at that. "In a partnership?" Ruben asked.

"Relationship, throuple, whatever the fuck, okay?"

Marius nodded. "Good enough for me. Yeah, let me get both my men tied and I'll have me some fun."

"No fuckin' me," Dallas warned.

"No. I wouldn't want to hurt your cherry ass."

"Fuck you," he said laughing.

With two of the ties they were wearing for that very short time, Marius tied Dallas like Ruben and both lay on the bed, totally under his power.

God, what a shot that was, seeing them both that way. Dallas's face had taken on the look of serenity. That was a rare sight with him. He seemed to relax into the unfamiliar role, allowing Marius to touch him, caressing his chest with one hand while the other moved over Ruben's body.

Their hot flesh warmed his hands, and his heart. They were both halfway to closing their eyes when they heard a door slamming downstairs. Marius got to his feet and moved into the bathroom to retrieve his Glock. He'd hidden it there for moment just like that.

When he moved back into the bedroom, he quickly untied the two men and told them to get dressed. "Stay here with each other. I'm gonna go check it out. It was probably the wind."

"One, I ain't staying here, and two, we thought the blood trail was a rabbit. Things aren't what they appear right now, Marius."

He didn't have time to argue. "Get your dick covered, then, and follow me."

He crouched as he left the room and got to the landing, peering around the corner to see down the stairs. A shadow moved and Marius tensed badly, heading down to the middle of the staircase so he could look over and see into the foyer.

Listening, the only noise he heard was from behind him, Dallas and Ruben filing in behind him. "Anything?" Dallas asked.

"I saw something move."

They went down the stairs together and Marius was tensed to shoot. He only hoped it was Alex Joseph or Brooks or whatever the hell his name was.

They got to the floor and moved around the banister. In front of the sofa, they saw someone laying, seemingly asleep. "Ruben, get the light," Dallas said and soon the light was illuminating the room.

Ruben was the first to yell, "Put your guns down! It's Felix!"